The story of the Edmonton Oil Kings’ team bus hitting an elk on its way to Cranbrook early Monday morning took on a life of its own this week. After a 4-1 win wrapped their series with the Kootenay Ice up on Friday night, the Oil Kings are happy to be the bus in this metaphor.

On Friday, the Ice became the reluctant elk, eventually mowed over by a force greater than them. The game was much tighter than the final score suggests. Stephane Legault gave Edmonton some breathing room with a goal at 16:52 of the third period to make it a 3-1 game and Curtis Lazar scored his second of the night on an empty net with 1:48 left on the clock.

Evan Daum has more on the game here and John MacKinnon’s column is flying through cyberspace as I write this, waiting to fill your screen.

The bus will fire up for a trip to Medicine Hat next. The Tigers upset the Saskatoon Blades with a first-round sweep, very efficiently fast-tracking the Memorial Cup hosts out of the playoffs. Game 1 of the WHL’s Eastern Conference semifinal goes Friday at Rexall Place.

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